Surry Nuclear Plant Passes Disaster Test

NEWPORT NEWS — Not that anyone is worried about it, but if you live within 50 miles of the Surry Power Station, there are people who are well-prepared to protect you in an emergency.

A two-phase drill, carried out in May and last week, showed no deficiencies in disaster-preparedness, said Darrell W. Hammons of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region III office in Philadelphia.

He -- along with other federal, state, regional and local officials -- was at the Omni Hotel in Newport News on Saturday for a public briefing on the drill and the procedures that are in place in case of a crisis at the nuclear-power plant.

No public showed up. Except a Daily Press reporter. The slide show was ditched. Notepads and handouts lay untouched. Lots of people with answers. Only one with questions.

William F. Renz, director of Nuclear Protection Services and Emergency Preparedness for Dominion Resources Services Inc., which owns the plant, said the technology there is so sophisticated that it would take a series of unlikely events for an escape of radioactive material to occur.

A jetliner hitting a containment structure "would be like a Coke can hitting a brick wall," Renz said.

The drill, which all participants knew about in advance, tested such things as speed of re-sponse, public notification, evacuation readiness, protection from contaminated food and water (for residents and livestock), accommodations for evacuees, and decontamination ability.

Readiness plans for nuclear-power plants were established 23 years ago and are continually updated, Renz said. Extensive drills like the two-phase test this year occur every six years.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will send a report on the results to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It should be available for public review in about three months.

"We found no area where there was any performance that would cause any negative impact on the public," Hammons said.

- Judith Haynes can be reached at (757) 247-4627 or jhaynes@dailypress.com